All resistance must recognize that the corporate coup d’état is complete. It is a waste of energy to attempt to reform or appeal to systems of power. We must organize and strike. The oligarchs have no intention of willingly sharing power or wealth. They will revert to the ruthless and murderous tactics of their capitalist forebearers. We must revert to the militancy of our own.

There is a fatal disconnect between a political system that promises democratic equality and freedom while carrying out socioeconomic injustices that result in grotesque income inequality and political stagnation. Corporations and the billionaire class have won. There are no institutions that can be defined as democratic. Only the fiction of democracy remains.

As the persecution of Julian Assange illustrates, the throttling of press freedom is bipartisan. This assault on truth leaves a population unmoored. It feeds wild conspiracy theories. It shreds the credibility of the ruling class. It empowers demagogues. It creates an information desert, one where truth and lies are indistinguishable.

A leading US-based rights group on Monday welcomed a federal judge’s conclusion that 9/11 families should not be allowed to claim billions of dollars from Afghanistan’s central bank to pay off legal judgments against the Taliban. US Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn’s Friday afternoon report “is a victory for Afghan civil society groups,” said the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).

Asked if a Palestinian-Israeli who feels part of the Palestinian people can nevertheless be loyal to Israel, 63 percent of Palestinian-Israelis said ‘yes.’ Only 28 percent of Jewish Israelis agreed. If the solid majority in a society systematically views a minority as disloyal and doesn’t want them living in its neighbourhoods, that sounds an awful lot like apartheid.

The announcement that US President’s Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has got the backing of pro-business Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has been greeted with a wave of optimism that the US target of cutting carbon emissions in half before the end of this decade (or 40 percent compared with 2005 levels), can be met.

Can democracy live on here if dictatorship fully wins the day south of the border? The biggest obstacle is what’s in our heads. It is ingrained among Canadians that the United States is our greatest friend and will always champion democracy. That can no longer be taken for granted. Can we pivot to seeing the US as our biggest potential threat?

The fight to reclaim Okinawa continues despite ferocious opposition from the ruling parties in Japan who take advantage of their power and the fact some Okinawans’ livelihoods depend on base-related employment or business. This resistance is part of a larger movement for Indigenous rights, peace, and justice across the Asia Pacific region.

Okinawans, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, have been fighting to rid Okinawa of US bases for decades, giving rise to one of the strongest peace movements in the world, attracting broad international support. Thus, we were doubly shocked to learn that the Canadian Armed Forces are regularly using US military installations on Okinawa today.

For the first time ever, Colombia has chosen new leadership that is not conservative. Voters in the third-most populous nation in Latin America narrowly elected the former mayor of Bogotá, Gustavo Petro, in a runoff election. His election is viewed as part of the ongoing “pink tide” in Latin America where a wave of left-leaning leaders have succeeded in taking power through democratic elections.